Вил Мирзаянов - State Secrets - An Insider's Chronicle of the Russian Chemical Weapons Program

We urge your government to consider carefully the merits of Dr. Mirzayanov’s case and Russia’s obligations under the Convention. In the event that this matter cannot be resolved without bringing Dr. Mirzayanov to trial, we ask that foreign observers be allowed to attend the trial and that all legal safeguards are accorded Dr. Mirzayanov, as provided under international human rights law.

The AAAS, with 296 affilated scientific societies and 134,000 individual members, is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States and the world’s largest federation of scientific associations. The AAAS publishes Science magazine and concerns itself not only with substantive issues of science but also with the role of science in the world and the rights and responsibilities of scientists. The AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, formed in 1976, focuses on this latter concern and seeks to defend the professional and human rights of scientists everywhere.

Sincerely,

C.K. Gunsalus

Chair, AAAS Committee on Scientific

Freedom and Responsibility

cc: His Excellency Vladimir Petrovich Lukin

Mr. James F. Collins, Charge d’Affaires

Matt Bryza, Department of State

Eric Schultz, Department of State

Letter of the Committee of Concerned Scientists in the U.S to President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, October 25, 1993.

Dear Mr. President,

Troubled by word that the chemist Vil Mirzayanov is still slated for trial on charges of revealing state secrets, we appeal to you once again to intervene so that the case may be dismissed.

As we stated in our July 16 letter to you, the charges against Mirzayanov are based on a new list of state secrets decreed by the Council of Ministers on March 30, 1993. This list includes chemical weapons previously not so categorized. But, Mirzayanov’s alleged offense stems from an article he co-authored six months earlier in Moscow News of September 16, 1992, concerning an on-going chemical weapons development program and its impending environmental danger. Evidently, this decree is being applied retroactively in Mirzayanov’s case.

We firmly believe that the positive resolution of this case is crucial to the development of the democratic society you are laboring to achieve. We therefore urge you in the strongest possible terms to see that the case is dismissed without further delay.

With best wishes for your success in establishing democracy in the Russian Federation and in contributing to world peace,

Sincerely yours,

Co-chairman Joel L. Lebowitz

Co-chairman Paul H. Plotz

Letter of New York Academy of Science to President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, August 25, 1993.

Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of the 39,000 members of this Academy, we are writing to express our concern for the chemist Vil Mirzayanov, who has been indicted for allegedly divulging information about “the overall thrust of research in the interests of the country’s defenses” (the development of binary weapons). These charges were initiated as a result of an article he co-authored with Dr. Lev Fedorov in Moscow News of September 16, 1992, about an ongoing chemical weapons development program and its impending environmental danger.

The accusation is reported based on a new list of “state secrets” drawn up on March 30, 1993 and signed by Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. This new list includes chemical weapons previously not so categorized, and efforts have been made to make the list apply retroactively to the case. Thus it appears that his accusers are attempting to make our colleague’s action retroactively illegal.

We call upon you to intervene so that the charges against Dr. Mirzayanov may be dropped and his diplomas be restored in order for him to continue his professional employment so that he may again contribute to the advancement of the human condition.

The speedy termination of this case should be looked upon at this time as an opportunity to bring about improved international and internal relations. Mutual trust between the U.S. and Russia and increasing openness will be an essential part of the disarmament and verification process.

Thank you for giving this matter your attention.

Sincerely,

Dr. Cyril Harris

cc: Procurator General of Russia V.G. Stepankov, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee Dr. Sergei Kovalev

Letter of the president of the Academy, Nobel Prize Laureate Joshua Lederberg to the Executive Director of the newspaper “The New York Times” Max Frankel. December 6, 1993

Dear Mr. Frankel,

Michael Gordon’s December 1 article referred briefly to the arrest of Russian scientists who maintain that Russia developed a new class of deadly nerve gases.

I would like to call your attention to the central importance of the case of one of these scientists, Dr. Vil Mirzayanov, a chemist and a whistleblower who was arrested in October of 1992 presumably for allegedly revealing state secrets. At that time, no Russian law existed which had any legal bearing on his case. There was no basis for his prosecution: a secret decree was passed by the Council of Ministers on March 30, 1993, which classified all previous work on chemical and biological weapons a state secret. This decree is being used to prosecute the case retroactively, and the case was assigned to the Russian Supreme Court on Nov. 25 th.

Since it is doubtful that Mirzayanov revealed any state secrets by merely mentioning this program and, furthermore, that unpublished legal norms have no legal standing, it is highly advisable that the case be promptly dismissed by either the General Procurator’s office or the judge assigned to the case by the Supreme Court.

Otherwise we must conclude that Mirzayanov was telling the truth and a whole new class of deadly binary chemical weapons was created and that the Russian government is reverting to the old Soviet-style practice of persecuting dissident scientists.

Best regards,

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

President of the New York Academy of Sciences

University Professor, the Rockefeller University

The statement of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation in the United States on September 15, 1993.

On January 24 the trial of Dr. Mirzayanov will start in Moscow. In a throwback to old discredited practices the trial will be a closed one without independent observers allowed. Dr. Mirzayanov will be tried for disclosing information about a dangerous type of chemical weapons. The charges against him are based on law applied retroactively to cover his actions, and it seems the law was specifically designed for the purpose. These and other extremely questionable decisions by the prosecution should be sufficient for dismissal of the case for procedural grounds. But there are also important human rights principles involved.

Dr. Mirzayanov followed his conscience in making public important information. He did not pursue personal gain. The information that he released about chemical weapons was, possibly damaging to the state or, at least, to the image of some powerful governmental bodies. His actions were not illegal at the time (hence, retroactive application of the law) but they certainly pushed the envelope of things discussed publicly in Russia. If Russia is to become a fully democratic open society, there will be many other instances when the public will have a vested interest in open discussion of problems. If Dr. Mirzayanov is convicted would it mean that every time the state agencies find it unpleasant to have certain issues raised, there will be a new law adopted to retroactively punish disseminators of information? It seems that the intent of forces pushing for the prosecution of Dr. Mirzayanov is to intimidate the public and possible future dissenters. These forces within the Russian “power ministries” are afraid that they will be obligated to change their practices to more open forms suitable for democratic society, and hence relinquish old privileges that allowed, back in the days of the Soviet Union, the power structures to pursue their objectives and administrative policies free from any interference from the public or supervision by the law.